Minelab E-TRAC Forum

Just thought I would do a quick post of the finds from my last two hunts. The first hunt took place in a park where they tore down a lot of Victorian era homes in the 1960's as well as being a civil war camp. The ground is literally so full of targets that you have to put on a small coil and hunt it slow to pull the targets out. After about 4 hours I had some very nice turn of the century relics including a Victorian cloisonne brooch, compacts, suspender buckle, harmonica reed and a dropped 65 caliber musketball. We had a couple of hours left so we went off to try another spot. This spot was the site of a drained lake and the woods surrounding it that originally served as a watering hole and camp site for Civil War Cavalry soldiers during the war. Later on it became a turn of the century swimming beach. This place has been hunted VERY heavily and the signals were few and far between but I did manage to get a nice 12-10 repeatable signal which turned out to be a worn 1902 V nickel about 4 inches down and sitting on edge. A little ways away and just before we ran out of day light, I managed to get a 12-03 signal and recovered my first Civil War era Gallagher cartridge shell.

The second hunt was in an old neighborhood that was developed in the late 1800's through World War II. We came upon a nice park surrounded by small and identical GI Bill homes all built in 1945 after WWII. I love hunting these homes because they usually are loaded with silver. I have found that homes from the 1920's through the 1950's are some of the the best yards for silver. A lot of people pass them by because they don't think they are old enough but there were a lot of boom times in those post war eras and that was really the first time many middle class Americans had new found prosperity and some disposable income. We spent a couple of hours hunting the park and I managed to find a 1964 Rosie and the front end of a 1940's era toy car. Best of all, we got to meet some of the homeowners and even got a permission for one of the yards next week. The home owner really expressed an interest about getting into the hobby so we are going to bring an extra machine so he can hunt with us in his yard. Should be fun.

We had about an hour left, so we decided to hurry over to another older early 1900's park just a couple of blocks away. We knew this park had been heavily hunted for years and I really wasn't expecting much. I was wrong. About 5 minutes into the hunt, I got an awesome 12-45 signal in between the trash and showing 8-9 inches deep. I was really surprised when I saw the silver reeded edge of a beautiful 1935 Mercury dime. I began getting a lot of signals in this area. I wasn't sure if all the previous hunters had just missed this area or if they simply didn't have an E-Trac. I next got a solid 12-13 signal and dug a red 1949 Jefferson at 6 inches. I moved my coil just a couple of inches and got a nice, soft 12-36 signal. After digging down to about 8-9 inches I was very happy and surprised to see a deep green 1889 Indian Head in the hole. There were literally signals every where and I was really having fun. Dug several Wheats including two in one hole and the second one was 11 inches deep. Had to be the deepest Wheat I have ever dug. I also found a "Love Token" just 2 inches down that read "Good for a roll in the hay" on the backside. We were quickly running out of daylight when I got an interesting 11-35. Digging down to the 7 inch mark I saw the glimmer of silver and pulled out two small silver pendants on a chain. One was a silver heart and the other was a silver piece engraved with the name Bill Williamson and on the other side a date of 10-25-52. It appearst to be a vintage silver Avon pendant commemorating a baby's birth.

Definitely looking forward to getting back to that park to see if that was just a part of the park people overlooked somehow or if there are more targets that were missed throughout the rest of the park.

Well,it’s official. You now have one of everything! AND bonus marbles! My buddy Brad runs the eTrac and after a couple/few seasons he is also getting to that point where he can pull stupidity deep coins out of trash and terrible places. It’s a developed skill when that point is reached,luck or circumstance are no longer the primary factors. KNOWING you can find what’s there IF it’s there is a level of its own. Superior hunting CZ...

QuoteIDXMonster
Well,it’s official. You now have one of everything! AND bonus marbles! My buddy Brad runs the eTrac and after a couple/few seasons he is also getting to that point where he can pull stupidity deep coins out of trash and terrible places. It’s a developed skill when that point is reached,luck or circumstance are no longer the primary factors. KNOWING you can find what’s there IF it’s there is a level of its own. Superior hunting CZ...

Thanks for the very kind words IDX. That's the best thing about this hobby. Even after decades of detecting, I'm still finding things I've never found before. Best hobby in the world and it's only gotten better since I started hunting with my E-Trac. If only I had an E-Trac back in the 80's! Of course, you could find great things with just about any machine back then.

QuoteTony N (Michigan)
You dug up quite a range of artifacts. Very well done.
About how deep was your deepest find?

Thanks Tony. I would say the one Wheatie at 11" was my deepest target that day. I was pretty impressed with the E-Trac finding the small silver pendants at 7" too. I was running open screen and had it set at manual sensitivity 23. That last park had some pretty nice soil.

Hey Greg
Great hunts and finds. We are in the middle of a winter storm here 10 inches today and a couple of more on Sat and Sun for good measure. Keep us posted it keeps me going until I can hunt. HH
Rick

The nice thing about your post is that it is pretty normal to detect pennies and dimes at the 11+ inch mark around here.

Years ago I was at a fresh water beach with my Explorer XS and the stock coil. I was digging the tiniest of silver charms that used to
be on a chain which were small as the head of Lincoln on a penny and they were down at least a foot. I've found lots of great things
really deep with that XS and will never get rid of it. And to think the E-trac (which I also have) is supposed to be better than the XS!